Skip to main content

The Top 30 most spoken languages in the world.

Here are the top 30 most spoken languages in the world, based on the latest available data:


Top 30 Languages by Number of Speakers

- 1. English: 1.5 billion speakers
    - Native speakers: 380 million
    - Second language speakers: 1.12 billion
- 2. Mandarin Chinese: 1.2 billion speakers
    - Native speakers: 941 million
    - Second language speakers: 199 million
- 3. Hindi: 609 million speakers
    - Native speakers: 345 million
    - Second language speakers: 264 million
- 4. Spanish: 560 million speakers
    - Native speakers: 484 million
    - Second language speakers: 76 million
- 5. Arabic: 422 million speakers
    - Native speakers: 313 million
    - Second language speakers: 109 million
- 6. French: 321 million speakers
    - Native speakers: 74 million
    - Second language speakers: 247 million
- 7. Bengali: 284 million speakers
    - Native speakers: 242 million
    - Second language speakers: 42 million
- 8. Portuguese: 267 million speakers
    - Native speakers: 250 million
    - Second language speakers: 17 million
- 9. Russian: 253 million speakers
    - Native speakers: 145 million
    - Second language speakers: 108 million
- 10. Indonesian: 252 million speakers
    - Native speakers: 75 million
    - Second language speakers: 177 million
- 11. Urdu: 246 million speakers
    - Native speakers: 78 million
    - Second language speakers: 168 million
- 12. German: 134 million speakers
    - Native speakers: 76 million
    - Second language speakers: 58 million
- 13. Japanese: 126 million speakers
    - Native speakers: 124 million
    - Second language speakers: 2 million
- 14. Nigerian Pidgin: 121 million speakers
    - Native speakers: 5 million
    - Second language speakers: 116 million
- 15. Egyptian Arabic: 119 million speakers
    - Native speakers: 84 million
    - Second language speakers: 35 million
- 16. Marathi: 99 million speakers
    - Native speakers: 83 million
    - Second language speakers: 16 million
- 17. Vietnamese: 97 million speakers
    - Native speakers: 86 million
    - Second language speakers: 11 million
- 18. Telugu: 96 million speakers
    - Native speakers: 83 million
    - Second language speakers: 13 million
- 19. Turkish: 91 million speakers
    - Native speakers: 85 million
    - Second language speakers: 6 million
- 20. Western Punjabi: 90 million speakers
- 21. Swahili: 87 million speakers
    - Native speakers: 4 million
    - Second language speakers: 83 million
- 22. Tagalog: 87 million speakers
    - Native speakers: 33 million
    - Second language speakers: 54 million
- 23. Tamil: 86 million speakers
    - Native speakers: 79 million
    - Second language speakers: 7 million
- 24. Yue Chinese: 86 million speakers
    - Native speakers: 85 million
    - Second language speakers: 1 million
- 25. Wu Chinese: 83 million speakers
    - Native speakers: 83 million
    - Second language speakers: negligible
- 26. Iranian Persian: 83 million speakers
    - Native speakers: 65 million
    - Second language speakers: 18 million
- 27. Korean: 82 million speakers
    - Native speakers: 81 million
    - Second language speakers: 1 million
- 28. Hausa: 94 million speakers
    - Native speakers: 58 million
    - Second language speakers: 36 million
- 29. Thai: 71 million speakers
    - Native speakers: 27 million
    - Second language speakers: 44 million
- 30. Javanese: 69 million speakers

Note that the numbers may vary depending on the source and criteria used to define a language or a speaker ¹.
Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Comprehensive classification of Ngoni / Nguni groups.

List of Ngoni / Nguni nations : • Bhaca • Hlubi • Mpondo • Ndebele (northern Ndebele in Mthwakazi & southern Ndebele in Gauteng, South Africa) • Ngoni / Jere / Jele (mainly in Malawi, northern Mozambique, southern Tanzania, Zambia) • Nhlangwini    • Shangaan  • Swazi  • Tembu • Xhosa • Zizi • Zulu Altogether, twelve (12) "Nguni" groups are known to exist. From my knowledge in any case.  Bhaca, Hlubi, Nhlangwini, Swazi & Zizi are the Mbo Entity . The Mbo Entity often declassifies itself from the Nguni group. Nhlangwini & Swazi are under a Dlamini dynasty while the Hlubi & Zizi are also Dlamini tribes. Ngoni & Shangaan are of Ndwandwe origin (a tribe assimilated by the Zulu Empire). Bhaca, Hlubi, Ndebele, Nhlangwini, Shangaan, Zizi & some Mpondo are often classified as Zulu. While it's unknown whether Mpondo & Xhosa qualify as Nguni, they are often grouped as Nguni. Using family groups to classify :  • Mbo • Mpo...
Post a Comment
Read more

The M. M. Opinion Journal

Ponderings of the Man from Mpofana is getting cluttered & has several already outdated works, so I'll be blogging on The M. M. Opinion Journal  blog in future. 
Post a Comment
Read more

Concept of a Ngoni Federation.

For all who might still be lost as to who is what, here is a Comprehensive classification of Ngoni / Nguni groups .  While a Nguni superstate might not work, a Nguni/Ngoni Federation might. This would involve doing some administration & building some currently non-existing boards & infrastructure. The plan being to build a functioning & successful ethno-federation under one motive to develop Nguni/Ngon i identity & livelihoods of citizens in Nguni/Ngoni territories. Bearing in mind that we do not all live in the same countries so the laws of the respective countries we live under would need to be obeyed.  The Plan :  • Schools that share a similar syllabus . These schools would have to teach their respective Nguni/Ngoni languages as a mandatory language. For schools in Ngoni territories who no longer speak a Nguni/Ngoni language, the Zulu language could be the default language. • Sports academies associated with the respect...
Post a Comment
Read more